The present invention relates to the field of technical cleaning, and more particularly, to the cleaning of feed rollers, print heads, reader heads, and similar roll stock processing components through which roll stock is transported continually.
In numerous situations observable in common day life, a roll of stock, such as ribbon, label, ticket, or paper stock, is transported via feed rollers and processed (e.g., printed or read) before dispensing to an end user. Examples include the printing, reading, and validation of automated ticket and boarding passes, printing of baggage tag tracking labels, air cargo tracking and ground tracking labels, at airports and other such terminals, lottery tickets, theater tickets, and all other bar code and non bar code label stock and the like. Blank tickets or labels are fan folded or carried on a large roll which is mounted on the inside or the outside of the dispensing equipment. Periodically the roll is used up and must be replaced. During the course of use, the feed rollers and other associated components such as print heads or read heads, accumulate contaminants, some of which have rubbed off from the roll stock, and others of which have been deposited from the ambient conditions outside and within the equipment.
Accordingly, the rollers, print heads, read heads, and the like (hereinafter collectively referred to as the contaminated components), require cleaning. Conventionally, such cleaning requires the equipment operator or maintenance personnel, to disassemble and clean the contaminated components manually, or to run a specially adapted cleaning card through the contaminated components. Preferably a solvent, such as isopropyl alcohol or the like, is deposited on the cleaning card prior to insertion and transport through the contaminated components. A new roll stock is mounted, but resumed operation cannot begin until the solvent has fully evaporated from the cleaned components.
Three disadvantages are evident from the conventional cleaning scenario as described above. First, the operator of the equipment must have a supply of cleaning material and solvent on hand, which necessarily includes the cost of tracking inventory, ordering and storing materials, as well as the record keeping as to when cleaning is appropriate. Secondly, unproductive labor costs are inevitable, because significant human activity is required not only in connection with the record keeping, but also with the acts of cleaning the contaminated components according to schedule. Finally, the cleaning itself removes the equipment from normal usage and this is prolonged unnecessarily by the time required for the cleaned components to dry when a solvent is used.